Flooring.



C. A. BICKFORD.

FLOORING.

APPLICATION FILED lULY 1918 1,282,?32, Patented Oct. 29, 1918.

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llllllllii i uumm v ygz agijii il C. A. BICKFORD.

FLOORING.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 1. I9I8.

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flak arias Patented Oct. 29, l918.

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To all whom concern: Y

Be it known that I, CHARLES ArBIOKFORD,

. a citizen of the United States, residingat e 4 advantages Chicago,in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, useful Improvements in Flooring, of which have invented certain new and the following is a specification. V

y invention relates to metal flooring having interchangeable sections capable of being held in place without separate fastenings and havingsuitable grooves by which templets, frames or plates may be securely fastened-to the floor and against which large and heavy Work may. be shaped and formed, such as the steel ribs of ships and the like.

. To theattainment of these ends and to the accomplishment of. other new and useful as will hereinafter appear, invention consists, in the. features of novelty in the construction, rangement of, the various parts hereinafter more fully described andclaimed and shown in the accompanying drawings wherein, p

. Figure 1, is a plan view ofmy improved flooring. h

;Fig.2, is an enlarged sectional view of the flooring shown in Fig. 1. r Fig. 3, is. across section taken on the line A-A in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4, is an irregular cross section taken on the line BB of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5, is a cross section taken on the line CC of Fig.2. I

In the, construction of my flooring I first provide a series of I beams 10 of suitable dimensions and supporting strength arranged parallel and secured to a suitable foundation or embedded in concrete. I next provide a plurality of standard metal plates 11. Each plate is cast with lugs 12 on both sides, which lugs engage the edges or uppermost flanges 13 of the I beams 10. In order to install the metal sections in the flooring structure it is only necessary to slide each section into place by engagement of the lugs of the sections with the upper flanges of the I beams; this connection is close enough so that the sections will slide readily without producing frictionor sticking and at the same time tight enough so that the flooring will be firm and the sections will not jar out of place or rattle.

I space the edges of the floor sections apart, both at the end 14 and at the sides 15, providing a groove 16, around the four Specification of Letters Patent.

combination and arsldes of every section; at all of the corners Patented Oct. as, rare.

1 Application filed July 1,1918. Serial No. 242,694. I

of these sections Ihave made the groove 16 to terminate in anenlarged square opening 17. Through the central portion of each of the sections 11, I have provided a series of parallel grooves 18, which run at right angles to the I beams 10, the middleone of the grooves 19, is made shorter than the others and terminates at the center in a square opening 20. Running parallel with the I beams 10, and at right. angles to the grooves 18, 19 and 20, I provide another groove 21.

I next provide suitable clamping bolts 22, which may be inserted in the openings 17 and 20, and then slid through any. of the grooves 16, 18, 19 and 21, for the purpose of clamping frames, 'templets, blocksor the like, as at 23, Fig.1. This view shows a steel rib bent along a templet line against blocksclamped to thefflooring.

It will be apparentthat the number arrangement, size and shape ofthe grooves may be varied indefinitely. I have only shown and described one form and arrangement suitable for standardizing my flooring.

In practice the sections of flooring 11, will he slid against one wall or a steel end strip 24, as shown inFig. 1; after sufficient numbers of the flooring sections 11, have been placed, a suitable clamping strip 25, may be used at the opposite end bolted or fastened to the I beams by any suitable means as at 26. This will serve to hold the flooring rigidly in place. It will be necessary that at the free end of the flooring, sufficient room be left at all times between the wall and the last row of flooring sections so that the sections may be removed and others replaced in case of breakage or for any other reason.

Since my flooring is composed of a standard design of sectional plates, these plates are interchangeable and may be readily removed or added so as to enlarge or decrease the size of the flooring and replace in case of breakage or for any other reason.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description and the drawings that such a flooring can be made into a rigid platform and secured on cribbing or fastened to vertical steel or wooden scaffolding to form the flooring of a platform on which machine or hand tools may be clamped to facilitate machine operations at considerable elevation above shop or other floors. For example, the face of a steam chest, valve housing and lof levelirig alil'iing'and the facility With- "tanks, or biidges and in fabricating same, :my improved flooring ha's 'in anfy obvious ad- ;vantages to the engineer and mechanic. Fire brickiiiay be laid onmy metal flooring and steel plate vvork, ship s' armor and other parts maybe-readily mime tlierequired'shapes by acetylen feu'tting equipment used in "conijilnction with ineiqJensive guide tools made jto engage the "slots in *my metal flooring.

Similar advarimgesfma be had iniiveting, piinchi 1g and Welding operations. 'VVlien not in use fofr these purposes, tliese sectional fplat es "provide a durable and smooth floor heavy parts may be transported; Other advantages "reside in the accuracy andjprecision vvmh the soaring maybg mainmmecmt a low *costat all times. Theope'rating range "of motor-driven machinery and "hand tools ma be greatly increased by the use of my I flooring whereb "such machinery and tools are arrangedandiclamp'ed in either vertical i orho'rizontalfpositions or by which the "work to 'bebperated on maybe clamped tovarious positionsjfelativeto tools and-machiner While I have illustrated and "described *eeitain 5 of construction for carrying "my --1nv'ent16n into effect this-1s capable of grooves variation and modification without departing from the spirit of my invention, I therefore'do notivislrtd-be limited to the precise details of the construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of such variations and modifications as come Within the scope .of 'the' a'pp nded claims.

I-laying :described claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is '1. a structure of the -kind described, the cembinati0n with suitable siipportin g means of a plurality of interclrangeable' -fioer sections, eaeh liaviIr-g lu gs 'at the sides, and sli'dably a nd inllyfengaging t he sh pp'oi-ting means, tongues were edges at" the floorsections spacing thei'n a art: and forming 'groov'es openings at -the "corners center of the new sections 'and a plurality inthe 'iioor sections; v 2. A metal 'flooriniq *commisin ill-combilnation a'-'seli'ies df eam-lei I loeeuns'-suitaloly supported a fphira'lity of interch'aiigeable at the corners andben ter-f the-sections; a

plurality of grooves inthe iloor sections and "suitable {clamping means all as? shown and described.

In witness vvhereof, I?! hereunto-"subscribe my name to this specification.

' CHAREESAQ BIOKFOR'D.

niay bc ottaina ror five"cents will by addrsriing the ommissioner mmune.

Walshin gton, D. 0.

my invention What I. 

